Packetized voice and data digital communication systems, such as, but not limited to, digitized voice over internet protocol (voice over IP), or digitized voice over frame transmission systems, customarily segment what are typically relatively lengthy packets of data signals into reduced length, fragmented packets. Such fragmentation serves to provide for the intermixing of non-fragmented frames of high priority voice-representative signals with the data fragments in a manner that maintains the timely transport and thereby signal quality of the higher priority digitized voice.
Although packet fragmentation is a successful mechanism for transporting both voice and data over the same communication medium, it creates a problem for the system user, in that fragmentation does not allow the data frames to be directly processed at a subsystem interface for the purpose of gathering information embedded in the data, such as parametric information associated with the performance of an upstream portion of the link. In order to derive this information, non-fragmented frames must be available, which implies the need for some form of defragmentation of the data packets into a format that can be read and analyzed.
Now even though defragmentation readily facilitates direct packet analysis, it must be followed by refragmentation of the data packet, so as to provide room for the insertion of high priority voice packets among the data fragments being transported over the next downstream portion of the communication link. In order for refragmentation to be successful, it is necessary to know the provisioning parameters of the upstream and downstream portions of the link relative to the interface between them. While provisioning may be carried out manually, it is impractical to do so in a network that may have several tens or more of digital communication interfaces along the link.